This photograph of the train tracks through campus was taken in the evening, on the south side of Mr. Chips, from the street. I took this photograph from my car, which is a perspective I rarely get on JMU (since I usually walk to campus from home). I chose the train tracks for a couple of reasons--like I-81, the train tracks seem to bisect the campus and serve purposes beyond and outside the work we're doing at JMU. And yet, somehow, the campus wouldn't be the same without them. (I also chose the tracks because I live close by, and the train whistles wake me up EVERY morning at 6 am--but I love trains and train travel--so I have very mixed feelings about them.) I'm not sure how campus designers integrated the campus around the tracks; I wish there were ways to improve passage around the tracks for students. It sometimes seems that CSX is at odds with the campus (especially given the large fines that accompany "trespassing" on the tracks, something that I do every day).
Freight rail is environmentally superior to tractor trailer shipping, so it makes me happy to see it. But I do think Greenberg's concerns about campuses that lack a center hold true for JMU, and the tracks do contribute to the divided feeling that the west side of campus has. I walk along these tracks every day, though, and I do wonder how many people really think about them--I haven't considered them seriously before I photographed them. (I do confess that I did once take a souvenir rock from the rail bed.)
--Dr. Connerley
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